Alexander & Baldwin Inc. ended last year with some recovery, and continued that momentum during the first quarter as its earnings jumped 477 percent.

The parent of ocean transportation subsidiary Matson Navigation Co. posted net income of $17.3 million, or 42 cents a share, compared with $3 million, or 7 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 9.4 percent to $345 million from $315.3 million.

Matson's revenue rose 14 percent to $229.5 million from a year ago's $201.1 million, largely due to an increase in container volumes for China shipping services. That gain offset declines in A&B's real estate leasing.

“;We are also benefiting from cost reductions implemented in late 2008 and throughout 2009 that positioned the company for improved financial performance,”; said A&B President and Chief Executive Officer Stanley Kuriyama.

Although Hawaii container volumes decreased by 3 percent, the company's China business saw a 38 percent jump. This year, 13,200 containers were shipped, as opposed to 9,600 in last year's first quarter.

Kuriyama said despite the drop, Hawaii container volumes appear to have stabilized near volumes the company saw a year ago.

Matson provided some cushion from declines in real estate leasing revenue, which saw a 13 percent drop, and operating profit, which fell 24 percent.

Profit were lower due to lower mainland occupancies and rents, as well as the timing of commercial property acquisitions and dispositions. The company sold the Mililani Shopping Center, which had a 99 percent occupancy rate, for $50.3 million in January. Around the same time, it purchased a larger Boulder, Colo., retail center.

Norbert Buelsing, president of A&B Properties Inc., said mainland occupancies were at 85 percent, down 5 percent compared with 2009's first quarter.

“;On the positive side, we've realized increased leasing activity in our mainland industrial properties, which represent the bulk of our vacancies,”; Buelsing said. “;We expect this recovery will continue as consumer spending strengthens. Recovery of the office space market will take longer.”;

Buelsing said leasing will remain a challenge throughout the year as Hawaii's economy remains soft. Analysts have said it is currently a renter's market, as landlords struggle to fill space and keep tenants.

Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. continued to take hits, with a 20 percent decrease in revenue due to the absence of bulk raw sugar sales. The 2010 harvest started April 1, later than planned, the company reported.

“;We remain on track to reduce financial losses dramatically this year, at least to the single-digit range,”; said Christopher Benjamin, HC&S general manager in a conference call.

Benjamin said the company's long-term goal is to convert the sugar plantation into an energy farm. Maui-based HC&S is the centerpiece of a multimillion-dollar federal effort to research renewable energy.

The U.S. Department of Energy and the Office of Naval Research have committed millions of dollars over the next several years. The government hopes to tap into the company's expertise in sugar cane to produce renewable energy.

Benjamin said the company is hastening its evaluation of a viable energy business model but that it's too early to say whether the company will exit the sugar business.

“;There are scenarios where we could make a gradual transition where we would still primarily be producing sugar, but we would expand our energy production and then over the longer term to perhaps transition,”; he said. “;And then there are scenarios where we might take a more dramatic one-time transition from sugar into energy. So really, it's too early to say which of those we would pursue, but we are evaluating both.”;